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Lonnie David Franklin
The Grim Sleeper is a serial killer. History The first of 10 murder victims attributed to the Grim Sleeper was found on August 15, 1985. Her name was Deborah Jackson and she was employed as a cocktail waitress. Over the following three years, the Sleeper attacked eight more women. When the last of them, Enietra Margette Washington, was attacked but survived on November 20, 1988 and was able to give an accurate description of the killer and his car, the Sleeper is believed to have stopped killing. After remaining inactive for 13-14 years, the Sleeper struck again, killing Princess Berthomieux, a 15-year old runaway who had resorted to prostitution. She was found dead in March 2002, three months after her disappearance on December 21, 2001. Unlike the prior victims, she was strangled, not shot. Back on the hunt, the Sleeper killed again in 2003 and in 2006 or 2007. In 2007, investigators linked DNA from her body to the prior Sleeper murders. In 2009, they matched it partially to the DNA of Christopher Franklin, who had a criminal record in the form of a weapons charge. A further analysis showed that it belonged to his father, Lonnie David Franklin Jr. After trailing Franklin, the LAPD extracted a DNA sample from a slice of pizza left behind by him at a restaurant. Franklin was arrested on July 7, 2010 after his sample was linked to the DNA on the Sleeper victims. He has been formally charged with the 10 confirmed Sleeper murders and the attempted murder and will stand trial in the near future. Modus Operandi The Grim Sleeper targeted African-American women. The majority of them were prostitutes. He would usually shoot them someplace not immediately fatal with a .25 handgun to subdue them, rape them, taking photos of them with a Polaroid camera while he did so, and usually let them die from the gunshot injuries. When the Sleeper started killing again in the 2000s, he would still shoot them to subdue them, but would kill them by strangling them to death after raping them. After the initial victims were killed, their bodies would be dumped in trash dumpsters or under piles of trash in alleys. Known Victims The dates denote when the bodies were found, except for Enietra Margette's. *10 August, 1985: Deborah Jackson, 29 *12 August, 1986: Henriette Wright, 34 *10 January, 1987: Barbara Ware, 27 *15 April, 1987: Bernita Sparks, 26 *1 November, 1987: Mary Lowe, 26 *30 January, 1988: Lachrica Jefferson, 22 *11 September, 1988: Alice Monique Alexander, 18 *20 November, 1988: Enietra Margette Washington (attempted) *19 March, 2002: Princess Berthomieux, 15 *11 July, 2003: Valeria McCorvey, 35 *1 January, 2007: Janecia Paters, 27 *Note: There are also some suspicions that the Grim Sleeper was responsible for the murder of Thomas Steele, 36, in August 1986, but Franklin isn't charged with it since there is no DNA evidence that implicates him in the crime. Some also suspect that the Sleeper is responsible for the murder of Edwinta Hereford, 19, who was killed by massive blunt force trauma on 15-16 May, 2010 and found on the 105 freeway. Criminal Minds Comparison Since the Sleeper's murders were not truly connected until very recently, no UnSub on Criminal Minds appears to be based on him. He was, however, mentioned in Remembrance of Things Past along with the BTK Killer as examples of serial killers who suddenly become inactive and return several years later. Sources *Wikipedia's article about the Grim Sleeper *TruTV Crime Library's articles about the Grim Sleeper's Category:Real People Category:Real Life Killers